Adam Eaton Struggles in the Desert

Adam Eaton took the mound on Tuesday night in Arizona with the hopes of obtaining his first decision of the year.

Having previously started six games this season, Eaton had yet to get a decision despite the fact that the Phillies had won four of those starts. For the Diamondbacks, Randy Johnson looked to stop the bleeding from back-to-back losses off of crucial errors in the ninth inning.

Arizona struck first in the bottom of the first inning.

A leadoff double to Chris Young was followed two batters later by a throwing error on the part of Pedro Feliz on a ball hit by Eric Byrnes, allowing Young to reach third. With one out, Connor Jackson hit a single to center bringing home Young and putting the Diamondbacks on the board.

The Phils struck back in the third against Johnson. Eaton decided to help himself a bit and hit a leadoff double to the gap in left-center. Shane Victorino laid down a sac-bunt to move the pitcher to third, and with one out Eric Bruntlett smoked the first pitch he saw from Johnson over the left field wall for a 2-1 lead.

Although Eaton had not gotten a decision in this young season, his strength has been keeping his team in the game enough to win. Unfortunately, the D'backs didn't play up to that, and in the bottom of the fourth blew the doors open with a five-run inning.

Justin Upton lead off the inning with a walk and was moved to third on a Mark Reynolds double. Miguel Montero came to the plate next, and Eaton walked the bases loaded. Luckily, Eaton managed to get Augie Ojeda to fly out to center without allowing a run to score, but did allow the next batter, who just so happened to be the pitcher, to walk on four pitches bringing home the tying run.

Chris Young followed with a ground-out that allowed a run to score, and Stephen Drew took care of the rest with a three-run home run to cap the five-run inning, leaving the Phils in a 6-2 hole.

The Phils tried twice to get a rally going, once in the fifth after a one-out walk to Victorino, and Bruntlett doubled bringing the Flyin' Hawaiin home. Then again in the sixth as Jason Werth hit a leadoff home run to get the score to 6-4.

That would be all the Phils could muster, and for the first time this season Adam Eaton got a decision—unfortunately it was in the wrong column.

The Phils dropped to 19-15, and with a Florida win now share first place in the NL East. They send Kyle Kendrick to the mound on Wednesday night to try to bounce back from the tough loss.